-> '''Ciela''': Linebeck! You fled the second you heard about monsters in the temple!\\'''Linebeck''': No! Of course not! I suddenly got worried about my ship!

The fourteenth game in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series, ''Phantom Hourglass'' is a sequel to ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'', and stars the Hero of Winds once again. Unlike previous ''Zelda'' games, there was also a single central dungeon, the Temple of the Ocean King; beating other dungeons would allow the player to progress farther in the Temple, which would open up more dungeons, and so on. The NintendoDS game is entirely stylus-based, with the bottom screen consisting of most of the action and the top screen containing a map that the player can bring down and mark for clues.

The plot picks up right after ''The Wind Waker'', with Link sailing with Tetra's crew on the trail of the mysterious GhostShip. When the ship is in sight, Tetra goes aboard and disappears, prompting Link to go on after her. He is tossed from the ship, and wakes up on a strange island where a fairy named Ciela finds him. During his quest to save Tetra, he meets up with Linebeck, the captain of a steam boat, and the wise but mysterious old man Oshus. Oshus gives Link the titular Phantom Hourglass to ward off the curse placed over the Temple of the Ocean King by Bellum.

The game also includes a two-player battle mode, playable either over local wireless or online, where the players compete for control of Force Gems in alternating rounds where the players either control Link or a group of Phantoms.

----!!This game provides examples of:

* HundredPercentCompletion: The only possible value to be gotten from one particular bonus. [[spoiler: Once you have the Phantom Sword, you can kill the Phantoms in the Temple of the Ocean King. If you kill all the Phantoms on each level, you get an extra bonus, such as a piece of treasure or a ship part. This is great...except that once you have the Phantom Sword, there's nothing left to do except fight the FinalBoss, meaning that the treasures and ship parts are essentially useless.]]* BareYourMidriff: Jolene.* BigBad: Bellum.* BiggerOnTheInside: Not only do islands look a lot smaller while you're sailing than they do on land, they also have larger varieties in elevation like cliffs, hills and peaks when you're viewing them from your boat that aren't quite as evident when you're walking around on them.* BuildLikeAnEgyptian: The Cobble Kingdom.* ChekhovsGunman: A more minor example than most, but two of the earliest characters you meet in the game, the fortune teller Astrid and her [[spoiler: deceased]] assistant Kayo, are later revealed to be descended from the ancient Cobble Kingdom, the ruins of which are unearthed and explored later on in search of one of the Pure Metals.** [[UltimateBlacksmith Zauz]] is a double example. You have a chance to visit his island when you first explore the northwestern sea, before [[spoiler: Oshus directs you to him later as the only person who can forge the Phantom Sword]]. Certain hints from his appearance and dialogue also suggest that he, like Astrid and Kayo, is related to the Cobble.* ColourCodedTimestop: Grayscale.* ComicBookAdaptation: Yet another ''Manga/TheLegendOfZelda'' manga has been made, this time about this game.* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: The Gossip Stone that runs Harrow Island will not tell you that you can (and are likely to) lose money beyond the usual fee until you have already paid the latter. Even worse, it claims you can randomly find a Treasure Map regardless of whether this is actually the case or not. There are several, and there is no way to tell how many there are left (or that some of them won't appear at all until you have completed the Sea Chart).* CosmeticAward: Beedle's "Complimentary Card," which sounds like it can be exchanged for a free item. When you redeem it, [[spoiler:[[{{Pun}} he compliments you]].]]* DemonicPossession: Used on [[spoiler:Linebeck in the end of the game]].* EarnYourFun: The shooting gallery, Maze Island, and the "training" with the captain of the Prince of Red Lions.* EldritchAbomination: Bellum* EleventhHourSuperpower: ** The [[spoiler:Phantom Sword]], which sure would have come in handy a lot sooner than you're able to get it.** Then there's [[spoiler:Ciela's ability to create Time Spheres, which give Link the ability to freeze time]].* EnfantTerrible: The ObviouslyEvil Cubus Sisters, at least while they still appear human.* EnterSolutionHere: One way they show off the DS's features is to allow you to write notes on maps. To make sure you get maximum use out of this feature, the solution to a puzzle is frequently given somewhere else in the dungeon, and you're supposed to write it down when you find it.* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: In the Temple of the Ocean King, Link's life/the sands of the Phantom Hourglass won't get drained away if Link stays on certain purple sparkling areas of the temple's floor. When Link stands on these areas, he also sparkles.* ExpositionFairy: Ciela. Leaf and Neri also occasionally serve as this.* FacelessEye: Bellum.* FantasyKeepsake: The game ends with Link waking back on the pirate ship, the game's whole adventure being seemingly a dream, then seeing Lineback's ship on the horizon. * FishingMinigame: With that in mind it's easy to believe that [[spoiler: this isn't the Great Sea.]]* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Used rather frequently, mostly with Linebeck. The most notable one is of him knocking over [[spoiler:the petrified Tetra]] and frantically trying to fix it while Oshus is seriously explaining something. Also, near the end of the game, the ship is flooded and you see Linebeck being washed away.* GameplayAndStorySegregation: In the final scene, the Ocean King offers Linebeck a single wish in return for his help. Linebeck asks to have his ship, which was sunk earlier returned to him. This is supposed to be a bit of CharacterDevelopment for the usually cowardly and greedy Linebeck, but it still comes off as a bit money-hungry if you've gone through the pains of collecting and equipping all the Golden Ship Parts, which would make said boat worth every Rupee in the Great Ocean.* GenericDoomsdayVillain: Bellum is given no concrete backstory or motivation. It just kind of exists and is evil.* GhostShip: Word-for-word!* GrapplingHookPistol: The Grappling Hook makes a return from ''Wind Waker'' and is one of the most versatile weapons in the history of the series. On top of being used to grab things, it can also be used as a tight rope and a human slingshot.* GuestStarPartyMember: For part of the dungeon on Goron Island, you switch control at will between Link and Gongoron, the son of the chief of the Goron tribe. You get to play as him again in the race on the nearby Dee Ess Island after you clear the dungeon.* GuideDangIt: The second Sea Chart. Who would have known that you're supposed to [[spoiler:''close the DS'' to put the marking on it?]] Ciela even congratulates you on figuring it out!* HoldYourHippogriffs: When Linebeck refuses to enter the Ghost Ship, Ciela refers to him as a "cucco." Cuccos are [[CallARabbitASmeerp chickens]] in all but name and [[LethalJokeCharacter ferocity]].* IdenticalStranger: Zauz the blacksmith bears an extraordinary resemblance to Ganondorf.* IllNeverTellYouWhatImTellingYou: The Cubus Sisters, once you figure out they are lying to you ([[ObviouslyEvil which should take all of two seconds]]).* IntergenerationalFriendship: The adolescent Link and the adult Linebeck. Eventually.* InvisibleToNormals: The Hero's New Clothes, making a return appearance (so to speak) from ''Wind Waker.'' Allegedly they can only be seen by very honest people.* ItemGet: Generally played straight, but the game contains a number of hilarious subversions and parodies:** At the beginning, Link does this while not being able to stand straight from Linebeck shaking him too hard, accompanied by a wonky version of the ItemGet sound effect.** And parodied before that when Link opens up a chest and finds...nothing in it.** Parodied yet again when Link receives a "mysterious" gift (which is [[spoiler: invisible clothing]]) from the Man of Smiles; he does his usual ItemGet animation, but with a disturbed expression. ** Parodied once more with the Rupoors, negative black rupees that subtract money. Whenever Link gets one, a distorted version of the Item Get music plays, and Link looks upset.** Finally, after Zauz forges the [[spoiler: blade of the Phantom Sword]], he tells Link to take it back to Oshus, who can finish the job. When you meet Oshus, he asks Link to take out the Phantom Hourglass. For no reason whatsoever, Link decides to (unnecessarily) go through his typical ItemGet motions. However, Oshus, apparently not in the mood, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny grabs the hourglass from Link mid-motion, leaving Link with his hand in the air and... nothing in it!]]* ItsProbablyNothing: The Phantoms take the fact that this kid that they chase always vanishes into thin air a bit ''too'' lightly. Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the fact that they are relatively mindless, presumably undead {{mook}}s.* KidHero: Link is still not beyond the age of thirteen in this game.* LateArrivalSpoiler: If you have yet to play ''The Wind Waker'' and still want to go into it without knowing the major narrative surprises, you might want to delay playing ''Phantom Hourglass'', as it summarizes the plot of the former game in the opening cutscene.* LampshadeHanging: One of the talking skeletons whines about not being able to use the D-pad and buttons.* LovableCoward: Linebeck is the incredibly lovable embodiment of this trope.* TheMaze: The pyramid-shaped temple on the Isle of the Dead.* MiniDungeon: The pyramidal tombs in the isles of the Cobble Kingdom, where the corresponding four Cobble Knights rest. Link has to '''1)''' find a way to the isle where Mutoh's Temple is, '''2)''' enable said way in that island, and '''3)''' enter the temple. * MoneyForNothing: It's not hard to finish this game with literally thousands of Rupees in your purse and nothing worthwhile to buy with them.* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Cubus = suc''cubus''/in''cubus''.* NotCompletelyUseless: The items in the trading sequence, which otherwise serve no useful purpose -- the kaleidoscope, for example, looks ridiculous if you don't know why you have it.* ObviouslyEvil: As noted, the Cubus Sisters. Seriously, this is what the youngest sister says when describing her "captured" sisters.--> '''Youngest Cubus Sister''': [[color:red:Fallen! Fallen! They are the fallen!]] Excuse me. I don't know what came over me. * OneTimeDungeon: The fourth dungeon - and '''only''' the fourth dungeon - is an example, but averts one instance of LostForever because [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything The Dev Team Thought Of Everything]].* OrWasItADream: [[spoiler:While Link and Tetra are first led to believe it was AllJustADream, Link finds the Phantom Hourglass on him and sees Linebeck sailing away in the distance.]] Doubles as a ShoutOut to ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening''.* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: A girl just pretends to be one for fun. A big hint is her wearing an inner-tube as she swims around.* OutOfFocus: Tetra compared to ''The Wind Waker'', with Linebeck getting the limelight instead.* PintSizedPowerhouse: Ciela turns out to be one once you get the hammer. When you equip it, it's wielded by her instead of Link, meaning it can be used ''at range!''* PointOfNoReturn: Once you finish crossing the bridge leading to the final boss it collapses, leaving you stuck on the other side of the room. Ciela tells you that this is it; there's no turning back. Then a warp path to the beginning of the dungeon appears, [[SubvertedTrope subverting]] it.* PrecociousCrush: An odd one. After defeating the GhostShip, if Link returns to Molida Island, he'll encounter a girl near the dock who wasn't there on his previous visit. She swoons over her mental image of the hero who defeated the GhostShip and gives Link a treasure map to give to the hero, who she seems to think is much older than him.* RuleOfThree: ''Zelda'' games always do like threes. ** This one takes it up a notch by having three separate stages of the adventure. The first two stages involve collecting three items (first the three Spirits, and then the three Pure Metals), and the third stage, the fight against the FinalBoss, is itself split into three stages! ** Also, in a more subtle example, three of the four sections of the map feature areas where rocks are arranged in a formation of three, and an island is hidden near each of them.* SchmuckBait: Played straight ''and'' subverted with the ObviouslyEvil Cubus Sisters on the Ghost Ship. Played straight when one of them [[spoiler: tries to lure you into opening a booby-trapped treasure chest]]; subverted when another [[spoiler: warns you not to shoot the Reapling guards in the back lest you piss them off - it turns out that it's the only way of stunning them, making it ''much'' easier to slip past]].* SealedGoodInACan: The Ocean King.* ShoutOut: ** The game is [[BookEnds bookended]] with ''Link's Awakening'' references: it begins with Link on a ship caught in a storm and ending up washed ashore on an island, and ends with [[spoiler:Link meeting a whale-like creature who returns him to his own world where his adventures seemed to be AllJustADream]].** There seem to be at least a few thematic shout-outs to ''Majora's Mask'' as well, such as Link freeing trapped guardian spirits (the Ocean King and his helpers/the Four Giants), an emphasis on time limits (the Hourglass/the three-day cycle), a bad guy with tentacles and big yellow eyes who seems more like a destructive force of nature than a thinking, plotting villain (Bellum/Majora), a yellow fairy companion with a bit of an attitude (Ciela/Tatl)...** The eyes on the boss "doors" and keys reminds one strikingly of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap Vaati's eye motif]].** Gleeok is a double ShoutOut. The multi-headed dragon makes its first appearance since ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Seasons]]'', but is given powers similar to that of Trinexx from ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast Link to the Past]]'' (one head shoots fire, the other shoots ice).** The way to defeat a Pols Voice in this game - by shouting into the microphone and then slashing it with the sword - was how one was supposed to defeat it in the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI original game]], but it was taken out when the game was imported to America (since the NES didn't have a microphone).** The 'self proclaimed hero' is a giant shout-out to ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]''. He tells Link, as a joke, that the kaleidoscope he found (belonging to someone from the Ho-Ho Tribe) belonged to his sister (as if he had one anyway), referencing Aryll giving Link a telescope; He dresses similar to Link with a heart on his buckle instead of a swirl, having blue boot instead of brown, and having a pom pom on the tip of his cap; calls his ship the 'Prince of Red Lions' in reference to the King of Red Lions; and in the trading sequence accepts the Hero's New Clothes, which is what Link got on the Second Quest in Wind Waker.** Out-of-series example: During one of Jolene's later ambushes, she reveals that she knows that Linebeck is hiding in the wooden box. When she calls out to him, [[Franchise/MetalGear the only thing you see come from the box is an exclamation point.]]* SlippySlideyIceWorld: The Isle of Frost and its dungeon.* SpotlightStealingSquad: Like [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Midna]] before him, Linebeck, the game's EnsembleDarkHorse, has a lot of plot and CharacterDevelopment focused around him.* StalkerWithACrush: The She-Pirate Jolene. When Linebeck [[spoiler:left and robbed her]] she didn't take it lightly.* StealthBasedMission: The Temple of the Ocean King.* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: On the GhostShip, Link has to "rescue" four little girls, "the daughters of the house of Cubus." It becomes increasingly [[ObviouslyEvil obvious that they're really evil]], but there's nothing else to do but "help" them.* SurveillanceDrone: The Phantom Eyes. They don't hurt you themselves, but if you don't get to a safe zone ''fast'', the Phantoms come... and they do.* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Ciela. She even has the same voice as Navi. ''HEY! LISTEN!''* TauntButton: In the battle mode, you can use the D-pad to show your Link cheering, gasping in surprise, or pouting.* TechnicolorDeath: All bosses except the GhostShip's boss turn into gold, disintegrate partially, explode into a column of sand, and then the sand freezes in midair.* TennisBoss: Wouldn't be a Zelda game without it. Dead Man's Volley, anyone?* TimedMission: Temple of the Ocean King.* TimeStandsStill: The only way to hurt Bellum.* TakenForGranite: [[spoiler: Tetra, aka Princess Zelda.]] For the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap second time in the series.]]* TutorialFailure: The game tells you to "draw little circles at the edge of a screen" to perform a roll. In reality, the technique is more like wiggling at the edge of the screen — drawing circles will just make Link flail around with his sword.* UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay: You have to press two maps together, one on the top and one on the bottom screen. To do so, you have to close and open the NintendoDS.* VendorTrash: Goron Amber, Ruto Crown, Regal Ring, Pink Coral, Pearl Necklace, Dark Pearl Necklace, Zora Scale, and Helmaroc Plume. Interestingly, their value and rarity varies greatly from game to game, so what may be common and cheap in one game can be extremely hard to find and worth a lot in another. This also applies to extra ship parts as well.* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: ** While you're sailing, a flock of seagulls will gather behind you. You can shoot them.** Link can attack cuccos with any of his weapons; however, [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment overdoing this will cause a flock of angry cuccos to attack him]]. * VillainBeatingArtifact: The Phantom Sword.* WarpWhistle[=/=]WarpZone: A variation -- writing symbols on a blank slate summons golden frogs who use cyclones to transport the ship to various parts of the ocean.** Doubles as a ShoutOut to [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker its predecessor, which also had a frog who summoned cyclones for your ship.]]* WhatTheHellHero: Despite the fact that [[HypocriticalHumor Linebeck's original]] (and increasingly subverted) reason for going with Link at all is to make money and plunder stuff.--> '''Linebeck:''' Hey, good for you! Taking a break from saving the world! Class act!----